1,389 research outputs found
Hamiltonian, Energy and Entropy in General Relativity with Non-Orthogonal Boundaries
A general recipe to define, via Noether theorem, the Hamiltonian in any
natural field theory is suggested. It is based on a Regge-Teitelboim-like
approach applied to the variation of Noether conserved quantities. The
Hamiltonian for General Relativity in presence of non-orthogonal boundaries is
analysed and the energy is defined as the on-shell value of the Hamiltonian.
The role played by boundary conditions in the formalism is outlined and the
quasilocal internal energy is defined by imposing metric Dirichlet boundary
conditions. A (conditioned) agreement with previous definitions is proved. A
correspondence with Brown-York original formulation of the first principle of
black hole thermodynamics is finally established.Comment: 29 pages with 1 figur
Remarks on Conserved Quantities and Entropy of BTZ Black Hole Solutions. Part I: the General Setting
The BTZ stationary black hole solution is considered and its mass and angular
momentum are calculated by means of Noether theorem. In particular, relative
conserved quantities with respect to a suitably fixed background are discussed.
Entropy is then computed in a geometric and macroscopic framework, so that it
satisfies the first principle of thermodynamics. In order to compare this more
general framework to the prescription by Wald et al. we construct the maximal
extension of the BTZ horizon by means of Kruskal-like coordinates. A discussion
about the different features of the two methods for computing entropy is
finally developed.Comment: PlainTEX, 16 pages. Revised version 1.
Conserved Quantities from the Equations of Motion (with applications to natural and gauge natural theories of gravitation)
We present an alternative field theoretical approach to the definition of
conserved quantities, based directly on the field equations content of a
Lagrangian theory (in the standard framework of the Calculus of Variations in
jet bundles). The contraction of the Euler-Lagrange equations with Lie
derivatives of the dynamical fields allows one to derive a variational
Lagrangian for any given set of Lagrangian equations. A two steps algorithmical
procedure can be thence applied to the variational Lagrangian in order to
produce a general expression for the variation of all quantities which are
(covariantly) conserved along the given dynamics. As a concrete example we test
this new formalism on Einstein's equations: well known and widely accepted
formulae for the variation of the Hamiltonian and the variation of Energy for
General Relativity are recovered. We also consider the Einstein-Cartan
(Sciama-Kibble) theory in tetrad formalism and as a by-product we gain some new
insight on the Kosmann lift in gauge natural theories, which arises when trying
to restore naturality in a gauge natural variational Lagrangian.Comment: Latex file, 31 page
The Universality of Einstein Equations
It is shown that for a wide class of analytic Lagrangians which depend only
on the scalar curvature of a metric and a connection, the application of the
so--called ``Palatini formalism'', i.e., treating the metric and the connection
as independent variables, leads to ``universal'' equations. If the dimension
of space--time is greater than two these universal equations are Einstein
equations for a generic Lagrangian and are suitably replaced by other universal
equations at bifurcation points. We show that bifurcations take place in
particular for conformally invariant Lagrangians and prove
that their solutions are conformally equivalent to solutions of Einstein
equations. For 2--dimensional space--time we find instead that the universal
equation is always the equation of constant scalar curvature; the connection in
this case is a Weyl connection, containing the Levi--Civita connection of the
metric and an additional vectorfield ensuing from conformal invariance. As an
example, we investigate in detail some polynomial Lagrangians and discuss their
bifurcations.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, (Extended Version), TO-JLL-P1/9
Boundary Conditions, Energies and Gravitational Heat in General Relativity (a Classical Analysis)
The variation of the energy for a gravitational system is directly defined
from the Hamiltonian field equations of General Relativity. When the variation
of the energy is written in a covariant form it splits into two (covariant)
contributions: one of them is the Komar energy, while the other is the
so-called covariant ADM correction term. When specific boundary conditions are
analyzed one sees that the Komar energy is related to the gravitational heat
while the ADM correction term plays the role of the Helmholtz free energy.
These properties allow to establish, inside a classical geometric framework, a
formal analogy between gravitation and the laws governing the evolution of a
thermodynamic system. The analogy applies to stationary spacetimes admitting
multiple causal horizons as well as to AdS Taub-bolt solutions.Comment: Latex file, 31 pages; one reference and two comments added, misprints
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Universal field equations for metric-affine theories of gravity
We show that almost all metric--affine theories of gravity yield Einstein
equations with a non--null cosmological constant . Under certain
circumstances and for any dimension, it is also possible to incorporate a Weyl
vector field and therefore the presence of an anisotropy. The viability
of these field equations is discussed in view of recent astrophysical
observations.Comment: 13 pages. This is a copy of the published paper. We are posting it
here because of the increasing interest in f(R) theories of gravit
Two-spinor Formulation of First Order Gravity coupled to Dirac Fields
Two-spinor formalism for Einstein Lagrangian is developed. The gravitational
field is regarded as a composite object derived from soldering forms. Our
formalism is geometrically and globally well-defined and may be used in
virtually any 4m-dimensional manifold with arbitrary signature as well as
without any stringent topological requirement on space-time, such as
parallelizability. Interactions and feedbacks between gravity and spinor fields
are considered. As is well known, the Hilbert-Einstein Lagrangian is second
order also when expressed in terms of soldering forms. A covariant splitting is
then analysed leading to a first order Lagrangian which is recognized to play a
fundamental role in the theory of conserved quantities. The splitting and
thence the first order Lagrangian depend on a reference spin connection which
is physically interpreted as setting the zero level for conserved quantities. A
complete and detailed treatment of conserved quantities is then presented.Comment: 16 pages, Plain TE
Ostrogradski Formalism for Higher-Derivative Scalar Field Theories
We carry out the extension of the Ostrogradski method to relativistic field
theories. Higher-derivative Lagrangians reduce to second differential-order
with one explicit independent field for each degree of freedom. We consider a
higher-derivative relativistic theory of a scalar field and validate a powerful
order-reducing covariant procedure by a rigorous phase-space analysis. The
physical and ghost fields appear explicitly. Our results strongly support the
formal covariant methods used in higher-derivative gravity.Comment: 22 page
Gauge Fixing in Higher Derivative Gravity
Linearized four-derivative gravity with a general gauge fixing term is
considered. By a Legendre transform and a suitable diagonalization procedure it
is cast into a second-order equivalent form where the nature of the physical
degrees of freedom, the gauge ghosts, the Weyl ghosts, and the intriguing
"third ghosts", characteristic to higher-derivative theories, is made explicit.
The symmetries of the theory and the structure of the compensating
Faddeev-Popov ghost sector exhibit non-trivial peculiarities.Comment: 21 pages, LaTe
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